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Topic: Bert and Ernie are gay (Read 346 times)

Sesame Street officially responds to claims that Bert and Ernie are gayOne of the show's ex-writers has said he wrote them as a couple.

The exact nature of Sesame Street's Bert and Ernie's relationship has been the subject of debate for decades.

Are they a couple? Or are they just really good friends?

Back in 2013, when the Supreme Court legalised same-sex marriage in the United States, the New Yorker used an image of Bert and Ernie cuddling on a sofa to celebrate the decision.

But despite Bert and Ernie becoming unlikely gay icons, Sesame Street has officially confirmed that they are in fact not a couple and instead remain just good "friends".

The show's statement comes after former Sesame Street writer Mark Saltzman gave an interview to Queerty saying that he wrote Bert and Ernie as a gay couple, taking inspiration from his own relationship.

"I remember one time that a column from The San Francisco Chronicle, a preschooler in the city turned to mom and asked 'are Bert & Ernie lovers?'" Saltzman told Queerty.

The producers of Sesame Street want you to know that Bert and Ernie are not, in fact, gay.

Sesame Workshop tweeted on Tuesday that the characters are best friends and have many human traits but "remain puppets, and do not have a sexual orientation.'' In a follow-up tweet, it says "Sesame Street has always stood for inclusion and acceptance .''

The tweets came in response to an interview published on Sunday by Queerty with Mark Saltzman, an openly gay former writer for Sesame Street. He says that when he was writing scenes with Bert and Ernie, he "always felt that without a huge agenda'' they were lovers. bangkokpost.com